Citation

Author Website

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Carolyn_Ristau/info

Abstract

Donald Griffin co-discovered bat sonar and founded the field of echolocation. He studied bird migration and founded Cognitive Ethology, the study of animal awareness and mental experiences. In all these endeavors, he faced hostile opposition. The biography (Ristau 2024) examines Griffin's life and the scientific explorations by him and others in these fields. This Précis emphasizes his arguments and supporting evidence for animal consciousness as well as his later research. Griffin considered the inhibiting assumptions made by scientists, including Cartesian views, the misunderstanding of innate behaviors, prejudice against lower animals, concern with violations of parsimony, and the assertions of the philosopher Thomas Nagel about “inaccessible” science. Griffin proposed ways to gather evidence supporting animal consciousness: (1) neural correlates of consciousness, (2) the versatility of animal behavior in meeting novel challenges and (3) animal communication, which Griffin considered a potential “window” on animal minds. He pondered what is a truly neutral hypothesis about animal mental experience? What is it like to be a particular animal? and how can we gather evidence to answer that question?

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Author Biography

Carolyn A. Ristau is a cognitive ethologist whose research includes field studies of cognition and communication in primates and plovers as well as work in human conflicts, community development, and conservation, predominantly in Africa. She has just completed a biography of Donald R. Griffin, founder of Cognitive Ethology, Birds, Bats and Minds: Tales of a Revolutionary Scientist, Donald R. Griffin. Website

DOI

10.51291/2377-7478.1828